Chinese trio
held by troops near LAC in Leh
LEH, June 30
(Agencies): After dealing with the PLA incursion last month, army personnel
have now apprehended three persons of Chinese origin along the Line of Actual
Control (LAC) carrying political maps in Arabic language in the same area.
The three men,
identified as Adil, Salamo and Abdul Khaliq, were nabbed inside the Indian territory on June 12 near Sultanchku and it took
nearly 10 days for the authorities to make them give their name, official
sources said. All the three men are Sunni Muslims aged between 18 and 23 with
fair complexion but their language was not comprehensible, they said. The three
men -- one of whom is one-eyed -- were at present in the custody at Murgo post
and efforts were on to comprehend their language which did not have any
similarity with either Chinese or Balti spoken in
Pakistan-Administered-Kashmir's Baltistan.
It
was also not clear where from they had come as the nearest habitation across
the LAC was in North of Karakoram range. Authorities are working on the
possibility that they could have entered through either Raki Nallah, Jeevan
Nallah or North of Daulat Beig Oldie, where Indian and Chinese troops had a
face-off for nearly 21 days from April 15 to May five. The three men, who are
well built, cannot be interrogated until they are brought to Leh town where translators
could be used to understand their language, the sources said. There was a
possibility that the language could be Yarkandi spoken in Xinjiang province,
close to Pakistan-Administered-Kashmir and touches DBO tip in north of Ladakh.
The area has a huge Uyghur population.
Both summer and
winter road connectivity to this post were cut off due to bad weather in Ladakh
region this year. Now the authorities have sought permission to airlift the
trio to Ladakh for a detailed questioning.
The
Home Ministry had written to the Defence Ministry seeking clearance for a
helicopter to ferry the trio, the sources said, adding that it was still
awaited.
The three men
were carrying a big political map and two smaller versions of the document with
Arabic script on it. Besides this, they were carrying improvised swords and
knives, tinned food including egg powder (useful in higher region), Chinese
currency of over 900 Yuan and Chinese leather jackets. According to the laid
down procedure along the LAC, the custody of any accused apprehended in the
area has to be with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and interrogation can be
carried out by central security agencies.
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